Scott, Not all boxes are created equal. I agree that certain manufactures of "route optimization" equipment really should be in the used car sales arena. However that is not the case with the unit we purchased. The RouteScience PathControl box we purchased only sends UDP traceroutes to the top 15000 networks that my customers are attempting to get to. This information about the flow of traffic to these networks is based on netflow information from my backbone routers. There are no ping sweeps to locate anything. Using PBR, the box sends a UDP traceroute out each backbone to my top 15000 destinations, calculates which one has the best latency and routes traffic out that backbone. Once I had fully implemented the unit, my latency dropped by 40% to over 100 keynote locations around the world. For me, the proof was in the performance increases. On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:15:48 -0500 (EST) Scott McGrath <mcgrath@fas.harvard.edu> wrote:

This was one of the pipe dreams that RSVP was _supposed_ to solve in that you could set up a end to end path with precisely specified characteristics. problem is _all_ the devices in the path need to support RSVP.

Now the snake oil salesmen are coming out with boxes which purport to monitor the all paths on the internet and will indvidually select the best path for your flow. The racket will be deafening when all these boxes start running scripted ICMP sweeps to find the "best path".

The solution is simple buy adequate pipes and possibly partner with a content delivery network who peers with _all_ the major carriers so that your traffic will not need to transit the major public peering points.

Scott C. McGrath

****************************************** Richard J. Sears Vice President American Digital Network ---------------------------------------------------- rsears@adnc.com http://www.adnc.com ---------------------------------------------------- 858.576.4272 - Phone 858.427.2401 - Fax ---------------------------------------------------- I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things . . "Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like you do when nobody's watching."